In the early-00’s, Long Island emo was run by two bands: Taking Back Sunday and Brand New. You couldn’t talk about one without the other, regardless of the fact that they didn’t (and don’t) really complement one another; on the contrary, these bands hated each other, and for years. Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey was TBS’ bass player and left the band when Taking Back Sunday’s John Nolan hooked up with his girlfriend. You can’t make this stuff up—but you were expected to pick your allegiance to one band or the other.

In the fifteen years since the spark that started the battle, Taking Back Sunday has enjoyed immense success—a handful of Top 10 albums, the song “MakeDamnSure” skyrocketed into the mainstream—and yet, somehow, it is Brand New that won the war. TBS stayed consistent, never giving anyone a chance to miss them; Brand New left and returned with real weight, the kind that gets you to headline a sold-out Madison Square Garden 15 years after your biggest single, “Jude Law and a Semester Abroad.”

Brand New is currently on the road with Modest Mouse, and despite the latter gaining more international fame in the early century thanks to “Float On,” it was the former’s diehards with the higher visibility on Thursday night, pop-punk kids from ‘round Long Island completely uninhibited in their appreciation for the emo kings. There was a particular energy within the room, everyone excited to see the band that waited six years before giving us new music.

Brand New took the stage near 10 P.M., ripping through vintage hits interspersed with the delicate thoughtfulness of their 2006 LP, The Devil & God Are Raging Inside Me. There was something deeply impressive about watching Lacey contort his body around the stage, squatting and rolling through a song as contemplative as “Millstone.” This band had to go away to come back to discover how to command a stage this size.

When he performs the Deja Entendu album cut “Tautou,” the room got quiet and then loud to lament in unison, “I’m sinking like a stone in the sea.” Lacey is the captain of his own demise on the song, but at MSG, he was leading his team to victory. All the while two drummers played the same beat in unison—a very Slipknot-esque move for a band whose power comes from sensitivity. A few songs later and an acoustic guitar came out for “The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot,” which feels like a distant memory, a certain nostalgic haze that bands from the emo revival have learned to utilize.

The most memorable moment of the set came near the end of the middle. “Limousine,” a fan favorite from The Devil and God, is a surprisingly self-aware song, a certain quality most bands of the emo genre lack. When performed live, Lacey extends a repetition of, “I’ll die free once but never again,” to the point where it feels painful. Relief is found in more reiteration, with Lacey scream-singing, “I can dish it out but I can’t take it.” It’s a song about recognizing your badness—and that to overcome what you don’t like about yourself, you have to face it. For Brand New, it took a hiatus. For the kids in the room, it takes something cathartic, like watching Brand New.

Brand New has been making headlines recently because of their unique comeback—they’ve said time and time again that it’s temporary, this will end soon, thank you for your interest—and have yet to give any real details on when the permanent demise will happen. At certain shows, Lacey has addressed the crowd with “We’re done,” leading people to believe that they are, in fact, going to be done soon. At Madison Square Garden, all banter was reserved for gratitude, the band thanking their family and friends and the crowd. If it was Brand New’s way of leaving gracefully, it was worth the ride.

The 20 Most Iconic Pop-Punk Album Covers

No matter what, we never seem to outgrow the good old fashioned emo, punk and pop punk from the glorious Warped Tour days of old. Take a look at these totally classic covers of some of the raddest albums ever and see why the legacy lives on

Saves the Day - 'Through Being Cool'

In terms of the artwork and the album itself, 'Through Being Cool' is almost impossible to beat. The image, sound and attitude of the record were all so iconic that it influenced a brand new wave of bands that modeled themselves in Saves the Day's image. (Both figuratively and literally...) more »

1999, Equal Vision Records

Fall Out Boy - 'Take This To Your Grave'

...Case in point: Fall Out Boy. Pete Wentz has cited 'Through Being Cool' as the main musical inspiration for 'Take This To Your Grave,' so naturally they took an aesthetic cue from Saves the Day while they were at it. The fact that Fall Out Boy has since become the biggest pop punk band in the world makes it that much more endearing to look back on their precious baby faces. more »

2003, Fueled By Ramen Records

The Starting Line - 'Say It Like You Mean It'

Perhaps no album cover has better encapsulated the after-school teenager image. You don't know who she's talking to or what she's saying, but you know you want her to be an honest person. more »

2002, Drive-Thru Records

Brand New - 'Your Favorite Weapon'

Instead of writing about the album art here, we were just going to embed a video for "The Shower Scene." But our boss wouldn't like that, so we'll just talk about these chess pieces we love so much. The knight and fallen king serve as a pretty common tattoo for the angsty youth of America (and all the English boys we've met, too.) more »

2001, Iodine Recordings

Taking Back Sunday - 'Tell All Your Friends'

Fun Fact: Though TBS originates from New York, frontman Adam Lazzara hails from North Carolina. Exit 152 of Interstate 40 is where he would regularly stop when travelling to shows as a kid. They immortalized this memory with the cover of their legendary debut album, and they have incorporated the number 152 into every album cover since then to remind themselves of their beginnings. more »

2002, Victory Records

The Get Up Kids - 'Something To Write Home About'

This cover couldn't be a more perfect illustration of the album. Not because the album is about robots in love (although no one says you can't interpret it way,) but because the image is kind of homespun and corny, but you just can't help but love it to pieces. And really, isn't that what emo is all about? more »

1999, Vagrant Records

Weezer - 'Weezer' (a.k.a. 'The Green Album')

If there's an award out there for "Lifetime Achievement in Memorable Album Art," Weezer has got it in the bag. Every single album cover of theirs is iconic for one reason or another, but being their mainstream breakthrough record, the Green Album is the one that will forever be engrained in pop culture's memory bank. more »

2001, Geffen Records

Jimmy Eat World - 'Bleed American'

Ah, those bowling trophies. We can't even look at a f-cking bowling trophy without thinking about this album cover. Although, you might own CD version that doesn't say 'Bleed American.' There was a nearly seven year period after the 9/11 terrorist attacks where this record was re-released as simply 'Jimmy Eat World.' more »

2001, Geffen Records

Sum 41 - 'All Killer, No Filler'

We're not sure if this is an official number, but our rough estimate is that this front cover cost about $5 to create. Sum 41 may as well have invented the pop-punk selfie, and we're not even mad about it. They somehow came out with a classic cover despite (or maybe because of) not trying at all. more »

2001, Island Records

Motion City Soundtrack - 'Commit This To Memory'

The ribbon on this cover – which saw a different colorway when the band came out with a deluxe version – is the most salient aspect of the artwork. But not for nothing, we also see birds flying out of a city that seems to be built in frontman Justin Pierre's brain. It might be a little crazy, but this album is crazy good. more »

2005, Epitaph Records

Something Corporate - 'Leaving Through the Window'

We're not sure how we feel about bands bringing their album name to life on their album covers. But SoCo pulls it off here flawlessly. It's a girl (obviously good-looking, with just enough of a hint of…) leaving what we can assume is her boyfriend's room. It hints at teen movies of yesteryear, which ties into some of the songs on the album, and brings a general air of feeling carefree. more »

2002, Drive-Thru Records

Say Anything - '...Is a Real Boy'

This cover not only lent itself to contextualize the Pinocchio-inspired record title, but the image was as unconventional and attention-grabbing as the music itself. Where so many bands in the genre strived to aestheticize their identities, Say Anything kept the visuals minimalistic and let their highly conceptual songs illustrate themselves. more »

2006, Doghouse Records

Paramore - 'All We Know is Falling'

This is reminiscent of a much different time; a time when Paramore didn't sell out arenas. Once upon a time, that red couch used to trigger the chorus of "Pressure" in our brains. Now, it reminds us of all the reasons we've loved Paramore for so long, and of how far they've come. more »

2005, Fueled By Ramen Records

No Doubt - 'Tragic Kingdom'

Although they're not typically thought of as a pop punk band by conventional standards, No Doubt's 'Tragic Kingdom' represented a perfect marriage of the two genres, and had one of the best album covers ever made - in any genre. In an ironic ode to Anaheim, home to No Doubt and to Disneyland (also known as "The Magic Kingdom," get it?), Gwen Stefani smiles as she warmly welcomes us to the No Doubt's sardonic paradise. more »

1995, Interscope Records

Green Day - 'Dookie'

When we got this album, we could look at it every single day and still find funny new things within the album art. The blimp that says Bad Year instead of GoodYear. The monkey wondering if he should throw his poop. It's worth picking up a copy of this thing on vinyl just so you can have a larger version of the art to stare at. more »

1994, Reprise Records

New Found Glory - 'Sticks and Stones'

New Found Glory's Dymo-label logo is a piece of art on its own, but the Sticks/Stones jerseys were a stroke of genius. (The brilliance continues on the inside of the CD booklet… but you'll have to go find your own copy to find out what's in there!) more »

2002, MCA Records

Alkaline Trio - 'From Here to Infirmary'

Forget all those trendy vampires du jour: Alkaline Trio were looking like cool undead guys back in the 90's. The cover for 'From Here to Infirmary' looks like it could be an album by a gothic boy band. Alkaline Trio, we would love to spend the rest of our afterlives with you. more »

2001, Vagrant Records

Rancid - '...And Out Come the Wolves'

This looks exactly like a gutterpunk remake of Minor Threat's iconic self-titled LP cover, which is a hell of a comparison to invite, but Rancid has always been a band with balls. Fortunately for them (and for us all, really,) this record is absolutely illustrious in its own right. more »

1995, Epitaph Records

My Chemical Romance - 'Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'

These are the bloodied faces of the concept album that spawned an entire new breed of pop punk. Frontman Gerard Way drew the lovers himself and established them as the lead characters in the storyline of 'Three Cheers' and subsequently the mascots of a dark, gothy, ultra-stylized wave of pop punk that My Chem would introduce to the world. more »

2004, Reprise Records

Blink-182 - 'Enema of the State'

And behold: the most iconic of them all. No matter who you are, you have a memory of this album cover. Whether you were a fan, knew someone who was, or maybe you were a parent who confiscated this record from someone's impressionable eyes and ears, the cover of 'Enema of the State' is an image that humanity has no choice but to remember (and dearly cherish) forever. more »